The Conversation
by LadyStandish
Summary: The 2nd story to "The Kid" series, "My Son" being the first story. Chris Larabee and JD Dunne clear up some things


"The Conversation"  
  
DISCLAIMER: I don't own them or do I make money from them, this is just for fun. Author Notes:  
  
This is the second story to the "The Kid" series, I hope you like it and please send feedback letting me know what you think  
  
JD sat on the floor in front of the television, his mind on the game he played on the playstation2 , he hadn't noticed his father come in the room and sit down on the couch right behind him until he spoke.  
  
"JD, how was school today?" "Fine" "Did you get your homework done already?" "No, but I will later." JD said without taking his eyes off the game that played across the television screen. "I think you need to do it now JD." "I will." JD's voice getting louder.  
  
Chris was starting to lose his patience with his son, JD's attitude had gotten worse since the incident with Potter. The kid was rude to everyone around him including Ms.Shannon the housekeeper.  
  
"JD, go get your homework done now, stay in your room and I will be up there a little later." Chris spoke with a stern voice. "Yeah, okay." JD shut the game console down and stomped the way to his room. He was getting tired of his father always telling him what to do. He had to make the best grades in school and be on his best behavior at all times and it was starting to make him sick.  
  
Chris watched as his son went to his room, he knew that there was something bothering him but each time that he asked his son, JD would just brush him off that it was nothing. Even the guys started to question him about his son's attitude. They had noticed that he never wanted to spend time with them like he had before. When he was asked to go riding or go into town, he would refuse their offer. The kid wanted to be by himself most of the time and when he was in a crowd he never spoke to anyone. His grades started to come down in school and that wasn't like JD. He was into a fight each week with students and Chris had to go to teacher conferences all the time.  
  
"Mr.Larabee, maybe it is a stage that the boy is going through, you shouldn't be so hard on him." Ms.Shannon spoke has she came into the living room after hearing the conversation between father and son.  
  
"Ms.Shannon, JD shouldn't be rude to people like he has been. I have an appointment with his teacher in the morning; JD is on the verge of failing the eighth grade. This is not like the boy, he had always made perfect grades." "Yes I understand that Mr.Larabee, but remember I raised three children myself, and I had to go through those teen years." The woman sat down in the chair straight across from the couch. She could clearly see the tension in her boss.  
  
"I just wish I knew what to do." "Talk with him Mr.Larabee, sometimes if you talk to him and not at him, maybe he will open up to you."  
  
"Maybe your right." The blonde man said has he got up from the couch and started toward his son's room.  
  
"JD, we need to talk." "Yeah, what." "Are you doing okay? Is there something bothering you that I need to know about?"  
  
JD threw his ink pen across the desk, he looked to his father. "I have already told you NO."  
  
"Please son, don't raise your voice to me." Larabee said as he sat down on the kid's bed. He looked around the bedroom; clothes threw across the floor in a mess, paper wads overflowing in the small trashcan. He hadn't ever seen his son's room look like this, he had always taken care of everything that the guys got him.  
  
"You need to clean your room, and JD about your grades son, your teacher called me today at work and wants to meet with me." "Of course she would Dad, she is a bitch." "Watch your mouth JD, I am sick and tired of the way you have been acting, what is with you lately." Chris started to get angry with his son, he had never heard him says things like he was.  
  
"Dad if there is nothing else, could I please get this homework done, I would like to finish playing my game." "You are grounded from your game, TV. and every thing else that I can think of right now."  
  
"What! You can't do that!" "Oh yes I can, and I just did, you are to come straight home from school, eat your supper and come to this room understood, after home work is done then you take your shower and go to bed, I don't care if it is six o clock when you go to bed."  
  
"I won't do it." "Yes you will, you are going to straighten your ass up or.........." "Or what, you will send me to a foster home, or hey maybe even lock me up like I was one of your case files."  
  
"What the hell is that suppose to mean?" Chris yelled. "NOTHING" "I told you already not to raise your voice to me, now if you want to be grounded for must longer keep it up."  
  
"Can you just please leave my room now."  
  
Chris Larabee walked out of the bedroom, slamming the door as he left. He stomped off down the stairs and out the backdoor to the barn; he had to get his anger out somewhere and in some way without JD hearing him. He honestly didn't know what he was going to do with the kid, he only wanted to help him through this tough time he was having.  
  
The blonde man's cell phone started to ring and he dug into his jean pocket and pulled it out. "What!"  
  
"Woa there cowboy, who pissed in your cheerios?" "JD, I'm sorry Vin, what was it that you needed?" "I'm on my way to the ranch, I was needing to talk to you, and just making sure that you would be there." "I'm here." Larabee said then ending the call with the sharpshooter.  
  
Ms.Shannon greeted Vin Tanner as he entered the house. "Mr.Tanner, it is nice to see you." "Nice to see you too Ms.Shannon, where is Chris at?" "Mr.Larabee is in the barn, I don't think he would want to be bothered right now, he had a small argument with JD this afternoon."  
  
Vin nodded his agreement to the housekeeper, he knew that something had been bothering the kid lately but he hadn't realize that it was to the point of the kid and Chris fighting. He headed for the kids room, he wanted to give a try at the boy.  
  
The sharpshooter knocked on the door that lead into the kid's bedroom once he got the okay to come in, he went into the room.  
  
"Hey kid, what's up?" "Nothing" "JD can we talk?" "Yeah, just as long as it ain't the same talk I had with dad earlier, of course I know you won't ground me." "Why did he ground you?" "Because I called my teacher a bitch, which she is, she wants to see dad tomorrow because I got into a fight again in school today." "You wanna tell me what the fight was about?" Vin asked as he sat down on the bed, straight across from JD sitting in the desk chair.  
  
"No, not really, do I have to?" "No kid you don't have to but I bet it may make you feel better." "Fine, this kid at school as been saying things. So I wanted to shut him up." JD said just like that.  
  
Vin knew that he was going to have to push JD to get the boy to talk to him, he hadn't ever had this hard of a time before. "What kind of things was the kid saying JD?" "He said that Dad was a killer." JD simply stated like it was not a shocking topic to him.  
  
"What do you think about it?" Vin asked. "Well, I don't believe it I guess." "What do you mean you don't believe it you guess, JD do you think that you dad is a killer?"  
  
JD looked at Vin, tears started to flow down the kid's cheek, he had been thinking about what the kids at his school were saying. JD knew that his father had killed Potter to protect him and because he wanted Chris to kill the man, that had shot his mother down when she was trying to protect him. He loved his father very much and didn't want anyone to say bad things about him.  
  
"Dad's job has him killing bad men everyday Vin."  
  
"Yeah and I am in the same job, so is Uncle Buck, Uncle Ezra, Uncle Nathan..." "Yeah I know that." "So does that mean you look at us like we are killers too?"  
  
Vin question really made the kid think about what he was saying. He loved his uncles and didn't look at neither one of them as killers.  
  
"No, I don't Uncle Vin, that is not what I am saying at all." "Is this about Potter?" JD pushed his head into his hands and let the tears run freely now. Everything was coming out all wrong and now Vin had to go and mention his mother's killer. The man that had taken his mother away leaving him alone. Sure he came to know Chris Larabee and he had a wonderful life that a kid could have, but he didn't have his mother.  
  
"Listen JD, I'm sorry to bring him up, but you have been acting weird lately and we are all worried about you." "Don't worry about me," JD stated with anger in his voice.  
  
"Too bad Kid, we do worry and your attitude has been crabby lately, do you hate your father for killing Potter?" JD was taken back by the question; it was put bluntly to him and had caught him off guard.  
  
"No, I don't reckon but..." "But what JD, your father was protecting you, he loves you very much and just wants what is best for you."  
  
Chris heard Vin's jeep pulled into the driveway and he started walking toward the house to meet him, when he walked through the back door he didn't seen Vin no where.  
  
"Ms.Shannon, where is Vin?" "I believe sir, that he went to talk to JD." "Thank you." Chris said walking out of the kitchen and toward the living room. He walked up the stairs and stood right out side of his son's bedroom, when he heard the conversation going on between Vin and JD.  
  
JD's tears tore at the blonde's heart. He wanted to go into the room and grab him into a hug and never let him go. He knew that his son was having trouble dealing with what happen only months before with Potter. Chris didn't even recognize the man that stared back at him when he looked in the mirror every morning. He had a hard enough time dealing with it so he could only imagine what his son was going through.  
  
He turned around and walked away from the bedroom door toward his own room, he had to get his thoughts straight before his faced the sharpshooter.  
  
"It just seems that Dad doesn't care about me anymore, he is always barking orders at me, wanting me to do this or to do that. I can't seem to talk to him anymore and it hurts you know." "I'm sorry about that, have you thought about going to him and starting a conversation JD?" JD was silent for a moment. "I just get so scared inside, do you understand what I'm saying?" JD said as he turned his tear filled eyes to the sharpshooter. "Yes, I do understand JD, but what is there to be scared of?"  
  
"I'm scared that he might look at me different I guess." JD spoke as he wiped at the tears running down his cheeks. "Listen Kid, your father as one look for you and that look is of a son, a son that he loves very much." Vin said placing a hand on JD's knee for comfort.  
  
JD felt like a big baby sitting there crying to Vin Tanner, he had always wanted the guys to look at him like he was someone to count on and now here he sat in front of him crying. He started to feel ashamed of himself, at his actions.  
  
"I'm sorry for crying like this, I just don't know how to take things." "What do you mean by "take things" JD." "Why does this have to be so hard? Why does stuff like this have to happen to me?"  
  
"I don't know the answers to those questions JD, if you don't explain what you mean." "What I mean is, why did my mother have to die, why did dad have to kill someone just to protect me, why does kids at school pick on me because of who my father is, why does dad think he has to tell me what to do every second of the day?"  
  
"JD your father killed the man that had killed your mother, he didn't want you to hurt no more and allowing Potter to live would only be more pain for you, I understand that now, to be honest I didn't understand where Chris was coming from when he shot Potter, but anyways, you should know how kids can be at school, they can be harsh, I know that for a fact. Now you have a wonderful father that many kids would love to have, hey you even have five uncles, not many kids can say that now can they?"  
  
JD had never heard Vin speak as much as he was now and it shocked him. It shocked JD to know that Vin did care about him and was willing to help him with his troubles no matter how big or small they might be.  
  
"Yeah I guess you are right, maybe this is all in my head." JD said once again wiping the tears from his eyes.  
  
"Okay then, I am going to have a talk with your dad and then later why don't you promise me that you will have a talk with him, he is worried about you JD, give him the credit that he deserves." Vin said getting up and putting a comfort hand on JD's shoulder.  
  
JD watched as Vin walked out of his bedroom, he replayed the conversation over and over in his mind. He knew that he had to have the talk with his father; he feared that he would begin to really push his father away from him and he didn't want that.  
  
"So you want me to give you this Friday off because of why again?" "Because I want to go to the bank and file for a loan, god Chris, do I have to explain it to you again?" Vin said laughing at the blonde man.  
  
"Sure you can have it off half day, you can't take all day off because I know it doesn't take that long to take out a loan Vin, this isn't Buck you are talking to." Chris grinned.  
  
"Thanks, and Chris you should go upstairs and talk to that boy of yours, I think he is ready to talk." Vin said getting up and walking out of the kitchen.  
  
Chris walked Vin to the front door and watched as he pulled out of the driveway. He looked toward the top of the stairs, a little scared of the conversation that he knew he would have to have with is son.  
  
He knocked on the door and waited for the okay to come in, once he got it he walked through the door to see JD still sitting at the desk chair where he was sitting earlier.  
  
"You okay son?" "Dad can we have a talk please?" "Sure we can, what's bothering you son?"  
  
Chris sat down on the bed and waited for JD to start the conversation, he wanted his son to make the first move so he would know that JD truly wanted to talk to him.  
  
"How do you look at me, I mean when you look at me what do you see?" "I see the boy that I adopted and I see the son that I love and will love until the day that god takes me away, why would you ask me something like that?" Chris asked.  
  
"I don't know, I just thought that when you looked at me...dad I shouldn't have wanted you to shoot Potter, all I could see was anger at the time, I wish now that it didn't happen." JD said trying to push the tears away from his eyes.  
  
"JD, I don't regret shooting Potter, and I would do it all over again. The man hurt you and it hurt me to see that, do you understand?"  
  
"Yeah, I think I do, but kids at school are saying that you are a killer, they call me names and it makes me mad." "JD, son, I feel angry too for what I had to do, I am angry at Potter for taking your mother away, if I could bring her back I would in a heart beat. But I can't, all that I can do is promise that no one will ever hurt you again." Chris placed his hand on JD's knee as he spoke. "Don't worry about the kids at school, my job requires me to hunt bad people down, bring them in and if that doesn't work then yes I have to kill them, but I kill them in self defense JD, it isn't a hobby or anything."  
  
JD grinned at the statement from his father, he knew that killing wasn't a hobby for his father. "Dad, I know that, I'm sorry for the way that I have been acting, it ain't right and I will tell the guys this weekend when I see them, I promise I will straighten up."  
  
"I hope you will see that promise to the end son, I am worried about you. JD if there is anything ever bothering you again please let me know, I can't take this of you trying to push me away, because I won't let you. You are my son now and I love you very much." "I love you to Dad."  
  
"JD, I wish I could ease your pain that you have in your heart, but I can't however we both can work on it together. Now I have a meeting tomorrow with your teacher, you will be brought into the conversation and you are going to let your teacher know what is going on. If I have to take you out of that school I will."  
  
"You would really take me out of school?" JD asked with an evil grin on his face. "Yep, been thinking about doing it lately anyways." "Really?" JD was starting to get excited of the thought of not having to go to school.  
  
"There is this great school right next to the A.T.F. building, that I have been thinking about putting you in." "Ah, come on I thought you were going to say that Ezra could teach me at home or something." Chris Larabee laughed at his son's slumped shoulders." Not hardly son, but we may look into this other school." The blonde said as he got up and left the room, leaving JD to his thoughts.  
  
JD knew that he had a wonderful father and no one should have to tell him that, it was just sometimes he didn't know how to take it all in. He hadn't had someone in his life other than his mother that went to extremes to take care of him, like his father had. He knew that he had five wonderful uncles that would always watch his back no matter what the situation was.  
  
JD thought about the conversation that he had with Vin and he knew that his Uncle was right. He would apologize to everyone on the weekend when they all came to the ranch. 


End file.
